A Point of View

Howard Jacobson on a very tricky dilemma - which of his possessions can he throw away or put into storage...and which must he keep? "I inhabit a simple moral universe when it comes to sheets of paper", he writes. "Paper with words on, good. Paper with numbers on, bad". But it's more complicated with some other things "How can I release the evidence of me to a storage company somewhere on the North Circular Road!" Producer: Adele Armstrong

Michael Morpurgo reflects on our future connection with the First World War. "How will we pass it on, this torch of history?", he asks. "Those missing men, those wounded, those who lived to count the cost, their story is our story and we must tell it again, keep it alive" Producer: Adele Armstrong.

Howard Jacobson discusses the politics of dress - form religious clothing ....via too short trousers...to ripped jeans.And why are men so reluctant these days, he wonders, to put on a "little finery"?Producer: Adele Armstrong

Howard Jacobson on the end of mooching as a way of life."Rooting around, doing nothing in particular, walking but not knowing where I was walking to....I can only regret the happy mooching hours of earlier times", writes Howard. He ponders whether our present age of mass anger and disgruntlement is partly a result of our expectations of instant gratification. "We sit, like so many privileged Aladdins, rubbing our smart lamps in full confidence that the cyber genie will appear in ripped trousers and give us all we ask for". Producer: Adele Armstrong

Howard Jacobson reflects on maleness in the aftermath of the Brett Kavanaugh story."With every sniff and grimace" Howard writes of the Senate Judiciary Committee hearing, "it wasn't sorrow or confusion we witnessed but petulance and menace, as though a prize bull had been cornered and in its fury knew only to kick out". "This is not a good time to be a man", he says. Producer: Adele Armstrong

Val McDermid argues that the sheer scale of tourism on a shoestring is destroying the very thing we crave when we travel. "Our great cities are year-round destinations", she writes, "but when the hordes arrive, cultural simplification is seldom far behind". She says we've grown used to cheap and cheerful instant gratification in many areas of our lives without any thought for the consequences.Producer: Adele Armstrong

Val McDermid asks if Sadiq Khan’s plan for a Glasgow-style crime reduction unit can have the same transformative effect in London as it did in Scotland."If we change the script people live by", writes Val, "then surely we should be able to alter our outcomes". Producer: Adele Armstrong

Val McDermid argues that crime fiction isn't really about murder at all."We shift people out of their comfort zones and make them squirm", she writes. "But not because we kill people"."It might be murder that sets the wheels in motion, but it's the time and place that lead us through the labyrinth to answers that are not always comfortable". Producer: Adele Armstrong

Adam Gopnik examines the issues raised by the row between Serena Williams and an umpire."The question everyone is asking", writes Adam, is "would he have done the same to a man?"Producer: Adele Armstrong.

Adam Gopnik on why the prefixes we use speak volumes about us.The "pregnant prefix", Adam writes, "is now the giveaway of class identity - and class bound condescension. The "um"s, "like"s, "look"s, "well"s and particularly "so"s of the world tell all". Producer: Adele Armstrong.